Devices in a computer network may be operable to provide status information to one another and/or to other devices, such as devices that manage configuration of the network. The status information may include an indication that a sending network device has encountered a problem. For instance, when a routing device, such as a router, fails to receive a threshold number of acknowledgments of data packets sent via a particular link, the router may determine that the link is down. The router may raise an alarm by sending out status information indicating the link failure. In one example, a network controller may receive the status information and, in response to the link failure, perform a re-optimization process to reconfigure the network. As another example, another network device may receive the status information and determine new paths that do not use the failed link.
In some examples, however, conditions that cause a device to output an alarm may be temporary, erratic, or otherwise unclear. For instance, a sensor unit of a device may malfunction, causing the device to output an alarm erroneously. For example, a temperature sensor may indicate a high temperature although the sensor is still in an operational mode. In another example, a particular router may be configured to determine that a link is down when the link functions incorrectly a threshold amount of the time (e.g., 10 out of 100 times, or other amount). Thus, the router may output an alarm even though the link still has some functionality. Additionally or alternatively, in some cases a link previously determined by a router to be down may return to full functionality, but the router may continue to output an alarm (e.g., for network administrator reference). Various network devices may be configured differently, such as to output alarms based on different conditions, causing confusion for devices and/or administrators that need to analyze and/or react to such alarms. For example, different sensors may have slightly different biases such that one may already send an alarm, while the other sensor is still silent.